Melville
From an Old French surname meaning "ill-town", or "ill-village".
Name Census estimates that about 489 living Americans carry the first name Melville. It is a predominantly male name (99.4% of registrations). The average person named Melville today is around 75 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Melville births was 1918 (77 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Melville. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Melville is about 75 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Melvilles were born before 1961.
People living today
489
~ 1 in 700,929 Americans
Peak year
1918
77 babies that year
Average age
75
years old
1981 SSA rank
#4,305
Tracked since 1880
Census
Melville in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 730 people with the first name Melville, which placed it at #15,675 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#15,675
National first-name rank
People counted
730
730 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
74.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Melville
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Melville is White at 74.7%. The next largest groups are Black (17.0%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (3.7%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Melville described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Melville at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White74.7% · 545
- Black or African American17.0% · 124
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.7% · 27
- Two or more races2.2% · 16
- Hispanic or Latino1.4% · 10
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 8
Gender
Gender distribution for Melville
Out of the 2,283 babies given the name Melville since 1880, 99.4% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Melville as a male name
- Ranked #6,928 in 1981
- 5 male births in 1981
- Peak: 1918 (77 births)
Melville as a female name
- Ranked #4,305 in 1921
- 7 female births in 1921
- Peak: 1920 (7 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Melville leans strongly male. 711 people counted with this name were male (97.4%), compared with 19 female bearers (2.6%).
Popularity
Melville: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Melville from the 1880s through to the 1980s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 540 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Melville by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Melville during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Melvilles live
The SSA's state-level files cover 10 states and territories. New York, California, Illinois recorded the most babies named Melville, while Virginia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 38 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Melville
The name Melville is derived from the Old French words "mel" meaning "honey" and "ville" meaning "town". It is believed to have originated as a surname in the 12th century, referring to a person from a town or village known for producing honey.
The earliest recorded use of Melville as a first name dates back to the 16th century in England. It is thought to have gained popularity as a given name among families with the surname Melville, who may have used it to honor their family lineage.
One of the earliest and most notable individuals with the name Melville was Melville de Ruvigny (1565-1630), a French Huguenot nobleman and military leader who fought in the French Wars of Religion.
In the 19th century, the name gained greater prominence with the American writer Herman Melville (1819-1891), the author of the classic novel "Moby-Dick". His literary works and the enduring popularity of his books helped establish Melville as a recognizable first name.
Another notable figure was Sir Melville Wills (1854-1917), a British businessman and philanthropist who co-founded the Imperial Tobacco Company and made significant contributions to education and the arts.
In the 20th century, Melville Shavelson (1917-2007) was an American screenwriter, director, and producer who worked on numerous films and television shows, including "Cast a Giant Shadow" and "The Seven Little Foys".
More recently, Melville Rodrigues (1935-2021) was a South African cricketer who played Test cricket for South Africa in the 1960s and later served as a selector and administrator for the national team.
While the name Melville has never been among the most popular given names, it has maintained a consistent presence throughout history, particularly in English-speaking countries. Its rich etymology and association with notable figures have contributed to its enduring cultural significance.
People
Melville + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Melville as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with M
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Melville: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Melville?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 489 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Melville going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 700,929 US residents.
Is Melville a common name?
We classify Melville as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,283 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Melville most popular?
The single biggest year for Melville was 1918, when 77 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Melville is about 75 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Melville in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 730 people with the name Melville, or 0.24 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #15,675 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Melville in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Melville?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Melville leans strongly male. 711 people counted with this name were male (97.4%), compared with 19 female bearers (2.6%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Melville?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Melville is White at 74.7%. The next largest groups are Black (17.0%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (3.7%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Melville most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Melville in the 2020 Census, accounting for 74.7% (545 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Melville in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Melville a male name?
Yes, 99.4% of people registered as Melville in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Melville still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Melville in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Melville can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people share the name Melville?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.